Citation

Zhou X, Zhen R, Wu X. Psychol. Health 2019; 34(7): 811-827.

Affiliation

Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology , Beijing Normal University , Beijing , China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/08870446.2019.1574348

PMID

30777791

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We examined the trajectories of sleep problems in adolescents after the Wenchuan earthquake, and assessed predictors such as posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms.

METHODS: We surveyed adolescents at 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 years after the Wenchuan earthquake. In total, 391 adolescents completed self-report questionnaires.

RESULTS: We identified five latent sleep problem trajectories, specifically, U-shaped (3.8%), low-stable (68.0%), high-stable (10.8%), increasing (8.7%), and decreasing (8.7%) trajectories. Additionally, we found that posttraumatic stress disorder hyper-arousal symptoms were more frequent in individuals who had non-low-stable trajectories. Adolescents in the U-shaped group were less likely to have intrusive symptoms.

CONCLUSION: After natural disasters, consequent sleep problems in adolescents do not remain stable over time, and sleep problem trajectories had considerable heterogeneity.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescents; PTSD symptoms; sleep problems; trajectories